Happy Birthday Flt 607/608, 321st TRS

today is my 4th AF Birthday – wow.

i remember the day i joined the Air Force, pretty vividly. We finally landed in Texas and got picked up by a nice bus driver. i sat in the very front seat and sang along with all the songs on the radio – i’m pretty sure thats what kept me from being as panicked as everyone else. The driver told us he’d pull up quietly, and that if we were lucky no TI’s would see us and we’d make it in the door quietly.

we inprocessed til very, very late. i was prowling around the little room because i was bored, some guy snapped at me and asked what i was doing, i calmly told him that i was trying not to fall asleep. he smiled and told me that i’d do okay.

we went to a bigger room and waited to be organized into flights. at some point we stood outside in quiet rows, swaying back and forth with exhaustion because it was wayywayy past midnight.

now, genius that i am, i’d done some research and learned that my tech school would be in Maryland and i’d be getting there in November, so i decided to pack a couple jackets in my little bag that i took to bmt. Standing in that line i was supposed to keep my bag suspended the whole time, but honestly, my bag was heavy and i cheated. i’d drop it, regain blood in my fingers, then quickly pick it back up before a TI or so walked by.

it was great, until i got busted by a little woman. when i say little i mean the top of her hat didn’t even reach eye level to me. she got in my face and started screaming at me, so i just focused my gaze on a point somewhere over her head and tried not to fall asleep. i remember thinking that this was definitely not the way i’d planned to start my AF career.

i can’t believe it’s been 4 years. i can’t believe how quickly these years have gone by – i definitely can’t believe i could be a civilian today… instead, here i am in Afghanistan. haha.